A voyage to India, Africa & China

The use of natural products for medical reasons has a long tradition in the West. But Asia and Africa also boast a rich and diverse medical culture that is based on drugs derived from plants, minerals and metals. To reflect this global phenomenon, whose roots go back thousands of years, we have asked experts from India, Africa and China to shed light on the respective practices in their home countries. We want to thank Ashwini Mathur and Vinay Mahajan from Novartis in India who wrote an illuminating essay on the scope of Ayurveda. Likewise, we express our gratitude to Fidelis Cho-Ngwa, Manfo T. Pascal, Jonathan A. Metuge and Moses Samje from the University of Buea in Cameroon who provided us with an excellent overview of the state of natural products research in Cameroon. Last but not least, we are grateful to Yang Ye from the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica for his elegant explanation of traditional Chinese medicine.

Text by Goran Mijuk, photos by Jan Raeber